Lonnie Jackson Academy, Columbus GA

Original Research by School Decision on Lonnie Jackson Academy

Lonnie Jackson Academy is a pre-K through fifth-grade school in Columbus's Buena Vista neighborhood, serving a small enrollment that is almost entirely Black students and nearly all economically disadvantaged. The school sits within Muscogee County Schools, a district that has actively invested in facility upgrades through a voter-approved sales tax and raised property taxes above the rollback threshold in recent years, signaling both commitment to capital projects and rising costs for families in the area.

The most direct measure of the school's academic standing comes from Georgia's end-of-grade assessments. In reading and math, the school's proficiency rates are very low: third-grade readers reached the proficient level at a modest rate, with fourth-grade math slightly better but still well below half proficiency. Fifth-grade English language arts dropped sharply. The school shows stronger results in science, where fifth graders achieved proficiency at a noticeably higher rate than in reading or math, suggesting some program strength or pedagogical success in that subject. Older data from social studies testing, more than a decade old, showed the school near the midpoint statewide. The current data snapshot includes only one school year, so trend information and whether these results represent stability or change cannot be assessed from the record.

All enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, making this a school where every family experiences economic hardship. The enrollment stands at about four hundred twenty-five students, distributed evenly across the grade span. The racial composition is predominantly Black, with a small share of Hispanic and multiracial students and very few white or Asian students enrolled. Data on special education and English learner populations was not available.

The school's address places it in a residential area of Columbus that includes public housing. Columbus itself is a mid-sized river city with a walkable downtown and cultural amenities, anchored by the Chattahoochee RiverWalk, though most neighborhoods remain car-dependent. The city's economy centers on Fort Moore, Aflac headquarters, healthcare, and finance, with some ongoing development momentum from manufacturing expansion. Housing in the zip code is moderately valued, making homeownership affordable relative to national benchmarks, though property taxes in Muscogee County have risen above the rollback threshold in consecutive budget years.

A parent considering this school should understand that reading and math proficiency are substantially below state expectations, which means instruction in foundational literacy and numeracy is a key area to discuss directly with school leadership. Science results suggest the school has built stronger capacity in that subject. The absence of comparative data against other Muscogee County schools limits the ability to assess whether these results reflect a school-level challenge or district-wide patterns. The school serves a fully economically disadvantaged population with few special population identifiers in the available record, so understanding what academic supports, interventions, and enrichment the school provides for its student body would be essential for a family weighing enrollment.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 316%

School 16% · District 27% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 419%

School 19% · District 30% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 26% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 25% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 422%

School 22% · District 27% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 516%

School 16% · District 32% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Science

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 32% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Social studies

Grades 3-852%

School 52% · district not reported

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

This schoolMuscogee County, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.